Your source for the latest news on Rutgers football, basketball, and other sports

Menu

Deering looking forward to larger role

If healthy, Jeremy Deering is expected to get a bigger workload Saturday when the Scarlet Knights meet North Carolina. (MyCentralJersey.com file photo)

Two weeks into preseason camp, Jeremy Deering admits he was unsure whether he would be healthy enough to play so early in the season.

“It was kind of an unknown,” said Deering, who missed 18 preseason practices due while battling the lingering effects of a concussion. “The doctors didn’t know what time (frame) I would be getting back in. It was frustrating. But I got cleared in time.”

The 6-2, 205-pound sophomore got cleared just in time to lightly contribute in the Scarlet Knights’ season-opening rout of North Carolina Central. Deering rushed twice for a total of nine yards, but it was a drop off a would-be touchdown pass that left him wanting more last week.

Now, Deering insists he’s feeling 100 percent even if Scarlet Knights skipper Greg Schiano says his team’s most versatile running back is slightly less than that.

“I don’t know if you can say he’s 100 percent because he missed so much time,” said Schiano, whose team faces a 12:30 p.m. clash at North Carolina on Saturday. “But he’s doing everything we ask. Hopefully (he will do) more. We’ll see how he feels.”

For Deering, his first taste of action — brief as it was — helped get him acclimated after missing so much practice time this summer.

“It was good to get back out there, get the feel for it again, and get comfortable with what I was doing,” said Deering, who tallied 690 rushing/receiving yards and scored three touchdowns as a true freshman last fall.

If healthy, Deering figures to get a bulk of the rushing load in a crowded backfield that includes co-starters Savon Huggins and De’Antwan Williams.

“There should be (enough touches) for all of us,” said Deering, a Tampa, Fla., product who is a threat to score anytime he touches the ball. “It’s a good thing that all of us are able to do different things and they’re able to utilize all of us in the way they want to. We do have different running styles that goes in with the types of plays that we have.”

About Keith Sargeant

Keith Sargeant is a graduate of Middlesex County College and Kean University. A Home News Tribune staff writer since August 1997, Keith has been covering Rutgers sports since 2000, serving as the Scarlet Knights' football beat writer since 2006.

Rutgers returns home to host Ohio State and #OperationScarlet. No, I don’t understand, either. Around the college football world Attendance. People do take notice. There is actually a Twitter account that literally ridicules USF Football’s attendance. The Bulls, former opponents in the old Big East, play at Raymond James Stadium, a pro venue. And this […]

The timing is bad with Ohio State coming to town As we reported yesterday, starting cornerback, Blessuan Austin, who is arguably the best player on the Rutgers defense, is out for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL in Saturday’s loss to Nebraska. Head Coach Chris Ash discussed the news at his weekly […]